While Vancouver is known for it’s amazing natural beauty and it’s friendly people, there is also a very dark side of Vancouver that many people don’t see. From crack heads to Heroin junkies, drunks to HIV and Hepatitis infected prostitutes, Vancouver has it’s share of nastiness.

So, if you are curious as to what these sort of people look like and how they live, there is only one place to see it all.

Main Street and Hastings Street in Vancouver is the epicenter of the drug and disease problem in Vancouver. No where else will you see such a concentration of junkies and crackheads. Day and night you will find hundreds of people scurrying around like rats, looking for a fix or for something to steal to buy some crack or Heroin.

For the safest viewing, stay in your car and drive slowly on Hastings Street, past Main street and then to Cambie Street. In those few blocks you will see things that will amaze you. Sketchy junkies searching the ground as if some magical crack fairy dropped some crack rocks for them, to people shooting up in dark doorways and you’ll even see drug deals going down.

For the really brave, walk along the street from Main to Cambie. It’s 4 blocks of Hell. You’ll be propositioned by whores and crack dealers every few steps and after you end your trip at Cambie Street, you’ll have a fresh appreciation for what you have in life!

One experience you will never forget if you are courageous enough…Dress in old ripped up clothes, put on a hat pulled down low and go hang out in front of the Carnegie Library at the corner of Main and Hastings. You’ll be amazed at the activity there at any time of the day. Drug deals, stolen goods, you name it…All happening right outside the Vancouver Police Station!!

Safety Tips

If you are driving to check out the crackheads and junkies, make sure to lock your doors and do not park. If you do, many will come to your window to ask you if you need anything. A great time to take close-up photos of the junkies, but don’t stay too long. They won’t appreciate photos being taken!

If you are walking, don’t walk alone. The more people the better and make sure you have a cellphone ready to dial 911. Also, try to keep an eye behind you

If you are walking, hide all jewelry. Rings, chains, watches or anything else shiny or valuable looking should be hidden.

Downtown Eastside may seem radically bad to Canadians, but most U.S. cities have neighboroods comparable or worse. In San Francisco we have at least 3 neighborhoods that are worse. I have taken a couple strolls along Main from Hastings to Cambie, and while there is no question it’s a hangout for the down and out, I was never threatened, never felt unsafe, had numerous people nod ‘hello’ politely, and the most I was ever asked for was a cigarette – and got a bored shrug when I said I didn’ t have one. The tone of this entry is dehumanizing and hyperbolic, very unfortunate. I love Vancouver, I wish the Vancouver Guide loved it a little more – or at least had a little more respect for its own citizens.

Your opinion of the downtown eastside of Vancouver makes me sick. It’s not a zoo for tourists to visit and check out the “wild animals.” It’s actually a real community of dynamic and caring people, many of whom need compassion and support. Further, the neighbourhood is actually a lot safer than most people think it is. I am a 28 year old female and have never felt threatened while walking alone there at night. Spend some time down there with your eyes open- and your heart too for that matter.

The writer is correct, but I walked through this area alone. There were people using drugs and shooting up right in the open. One junkie was using a car’s side mirror to hit up in his neck. I used to like heroin and easily found some after giving one of the people at Carnegie $5. Good white dope. I did get ripped off once too, but I’d go there again in a pinch.

This site makes me ill however not as ill as the people out there on the streets fighting t he disease of addiction!!! When people reach the point of desolation that alot of the addicts on main and hastings are at the only thing that is human is a reaction of compassion and gratitude that you are not down there yourself, Addiction is a disease and most down there are at the end stage of their cycle. Some of the people with the biggest hearts and most emotionally sensitive humans fall into this trap because they can’t handle the pain they feel just to exist on the planet. So if you judge them you are being totally ignorant, Don’t fool yourself addiction does not discriminate. You, someone you know or family are all potential addicts. Spread the love in Vancouver not the hate and judgement.

These people choose to live like animals. They habitate the best real estate in the city, while working people commute for hours to get down town.

The reality is that only a few people are bleeding hearts for these losers, the rest of us are sick of these diseased drug addicts. We(the contributors to human society aka tax payers) need to take back our city from these parasites.

We need to rid our city of these low life criminals! Perhaps all the bleeding hearts will open up their homes and let these idiots stay with them!

We, the people, are falling victim to these assholes! These self ritcheous drug addicts cost the city and insurance and the province millions and millions of dollars. go ask one, “what have you done for your community?” they will say “nothing” They have only scarred the down town east side and drain public money!

THere are plenty of islands off west coast….send them there so we dont have to look at them!

I am a summer camp daycamp leader, and we (myself and 9 – 12 year old kids) wait for the bus at hastings and main all the time … if you actually took the time to stop and talk to some of these people i guarente that you will learn some interesting things.
This guy makes it seem a lot worst that what it actually is.

As a matter of fact I HAVE made my wrongs right. Its called Step nine of the twelve 12 steps of recovery. And so have millions of other recovering addicts. Making amends for the wrongs we caused and correcting the pain we caused where we can. Please dont speak of things you so obviously know nothing about. Everyone has and is intitled to their own oppinion..its just unfortunate your opinion is so disturbingly angry and uneducated. Too bad for you. It must be so hard being so perfect and flawless. Perhaps a better education, better job, and a better outlook on humanity may get u able to afford a ‘safer’ place to live and help you afford to pay for damage to your vehicle without being sooooo angry about it.lol

wow..what an ignorant, uncompassionate article. The real tragedy here is how these people are portrying something they know nothing about with such judgement and hatred. yuck! To me that is so much more sad then what goes on at Main and Hastings. Coming from a recovering addict who spent half a year surviving on those lonely streets trying to hide from the grip of addiction…I can tell you firsthand that not one single one of those people down there are loosers, assholes, or self richeous. They are human beings who most likely faced tragedy at some point in their life and didnt have the coping skills needed to avoid a horrible, lonesome grip of addiction. I am an educated women who was raised in a good famil. I am a contributing member of society who does much for my community and am a successful business owner raising a child. Five years ago I was lost and ended up roaming those very streets. Thankfully I found my way home with the help and support of non-judgemental kind, openhearted people. This world would function so much better without ugly, hate filled humans who strangely seem to think they are better than other people and have obviously never walked a step in someone elses shoes. So like I say the real tradgedy is not he people IN the article…..its the people who WROTE and AGREE with the article. Now thats tragic.

Laura, you say, “I can tell you first hand that not one single one of those people down there are loosers, assholes, or self richeous.”

Look, when my car gets $1200 damage to it because some nasty addict broke into for $.50 that makes them all the above.

When the bank on your corner has some junkie come in and threaten a clerk with a needle then rob the place, that makes them all the above.

Given the fact you were a junkie yourself and the fact you don’t see what a pain in the ass you, and these people are makes you ignorant and self ritcheous.

As an addict yourself, have you ever gone back and apologized for the problems you caused? offered to pay back ambulance bills and police costs for your behaviour when you went off he rails?…………..NO OF COURSE NOT! Becuase you feel its all oooookkkkkkkkkaayyyyyy and you are self ritcheous! DIG IT!!

People dont care what the junkies think! We want a safe place to live!

Smith: YOU are the ASSHOLE….eventually this historic and colorful area will be replaced by a corporate matrix of million dollar condos and McDonlad’s outlets built for ASSHOLES like you…I am not a drug addict….I have safely walked through this area thousands of times without being threatened…most of the people that live in that neighborhood are good people who have fallen on hard times….but I have often found that those who have nothing are often the most caring and generous. In the meantime why don’t you stick to Robson Street you ASSHOLE.

I am happy to see that there are compassionate people out there. As for Mr. Smith, while I fully respect your right to free speech, I think it is not all that nice to say “go flush yourself down the toilet” to a person you do not know, and who has written something something personal, humane, and reasonable.
I myself think it’s the Canadian way to be easy-going, non-judgmental, compassionate, and polite to others. (I am happy to announce that I am going to be polite to everyone in this forum – to YOU too, Mr. Smith:)

This is why we have a conservative government. Slogans appeal to those without the ability to think for themselves. “Tough on crime” is viagra to these pricks in a way that “harm reduction saves tax payer money” never will be. I hope these self-righteous douchebags who talk about humans in terms they would never discuss their inbred, incontinent bichon-frise’s have children that end up on the streets they condemn. Abuse/ Rape/ Mental illness do not discriminate. Appreciate your ivory towers while you can. I guess ignorance is bliss.

My son used to live in Vancouver.He drove me to the Main and Hastings area at my request.For me, it was a Dantian vision of hell.I saw every form of struggling and debased humanity.My son felt particularly sorry for the elderly poor who have nowhere else to live and must deal on a daily basis with the derelicts of society.
What I saw on those mean streets absolutely equalled anything I glimpsed as a tourist in a third world country.
For those who wish to deny the reality, open your eyes and go smell the coffee.
The real tragedy is that this is allowed to exist in the midst of a vibrant and prosperous city.

[…] hitched a ride on a garbage truck putting the bear in danger as the truck then drove through Hastings. The bear was shot with a tranquilizer gun and is planned to be put back in the wild (it is […]

THE HARSH REALITY OF ADDICTION
The producers of this short film are both recovering addicts who have both spent time living and indulging with drug addiction in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Today they are both clean and sober with multiple years of recovery
Addiction: Chaos in Vancouver

i hope ho ever reads this article and decides to go down to main and hasting to take pictures of junkies gets there camera stolen from them and stuck with a dirty aids infested needle. junkies and crackheads are sick people not a spectacle for you to gock at what kinda sick person trys to advertise vancouver in this way

Well I’ve been a junkie and a crack head for 15 years now but i’ve never spent anytime on main and hastings because I couldnt and cant handle being around selfish and conning people. It really is true when they say how do u know if a drug addict is lieing as soon as they open their mouth. Because they will say and do anything to get high and yes its a disease but it’s a disease thats brought along yourself. It’s not like I can say well I didnt know Id become addicted well thats not true. Even I know that and won’t even pretend to deney it.

I lived in B.C. for a while and the author is right, the first time i drove down hasting i was terrified. there were literally people everywhere, it was an endless sea of people. we saw people doing drugs. beating each other and there were prostitutes giving “favors” in alleys that i really wish could unseen. my boyfriend had a cigarette stolen out of his hand in our car window. it was the middle of the day, the sun was up. we ended our journey around the corner at a shop and were stopped by numerous people asking for money or cigarettes. one guy told us his whole life story..which was difficult to understand as i’m positive he was really really high or crazy i’m not sure which…he gave me his necklace though which was neat, i still have it. and yes do feel bad for these people i wish they didn’t live this way but a lot of them choose the life they have.
i have had friends over the years who have chosen the same life style, if i could help them i would but at the same time i’m still terribly afraid of what they are capable of when they are in need of a fix

It took a large amount of ignorance to conjure up a load of society hating comments. It’s really sad to see that humanity can be so cruel to other people exactly like them. It’s unfortunate that people like Smith, and other commenters cannot comprehend the complexity of addiction or the trauma it is usually caused by. The true tragedy isn’t the homeless people and drug users, but the lack of compassion from the people strong enough to reach out and help. Instead of complaining about their actions, look at your own and ask how you can contribute to the situation instead of bashing members of our society on the internet. It’s very clear that you have never had to deal with the crushing anxiety and helplessness associated with a friend or family member’s addiction, and you may wish to feel for people who have. I am sober, have been all my life and have an aunt who is severely addicted to drugs on the downtown east side. Next time before you intend on treating humans like garbage, think of your friends and family, because that’s what we’re doing.

What sucks is that it IS the crackhead junkie’s fault. Everyone makes difficult decisions. Its easy for an addict to blame the drug, but the choice in trying it in the first place, and how often to take it afterwards, and much more, was theirs. If jumping off a 2 story building would give a high like crack, would hospitals foot the bill for all the freakin joy jumpers?, of course not, so why should we pay for the crackheads. Low income housing and welfare checks spent on drugs, then you have of course crackeads borrowing money and never paying back and trying to convince the lender that they need their cell phone ro whatever they gave as collateral back to get back your money. and that person that talked about righting wrongs, I tend to disagree, you can right some wrongs, many you can’t. Also so many crackheads stole or never paid back so many people that they’d be righting wrongs for their whole life and living on rice and pasta. I don’t see the woman who wrotre about the 9th step of the 12step program giving a full acounting of al the wrongs she righted. First of all when a crackhead makes someoen else pay 1200$ in damages for breaking into a car, or even 20$ lost cus they never paid them back, do u mean to say the crackeah is goign to go into rehabilitation, and pay someone 1200$ to fiix their car andpay back all the hundreds of dollars to the people they never paid?.
The worst thing is addicts will lie cheat and still, and try to con you time and time again, not realising they might be messing with the wrong person. A crackhead should not have the same rights as everyone else. That way if you beat a crackhead to get your money back, or break down their front door, there won’t be any problem for someone who meant well. IF that happens i can pretty much guarantee crackheads will lower their crimes and lies and stealing.

freakin crackheads…especially one with a stupid wife with a newborn child, already criminals in the US and trying to get their immigration status in Canada to avoid doing prison time there. Crackheads shoudl take the place of animals in the zoo, at least a bear or tiger won’t try to lie to you twenty times over and on top of that try to convince you to do the right thing and give them more money. Never lend or give money to a crackhead, often its gone either way, or you will be tempted to beat the shit out of them and YOU could be the one in trouble.

yes people, ALL people r people, but rapists, killers, etc, crackheads are just dead weight too. i’d rather see a crackhead behind bars than a wolf or tiger or giraffe. A dog is hardly too diferent from a wolf, and i’d rather a crackhead in prison or the zoo and 20$ or more in my pocket to feed my dog or do with what i want than pay tax dollars for a freakin crackhead to get off crack.

I disagree strongly with Laura, and agree with Smith. Unless Laura wants to pay Smith 1200$, since she is now a successful business owner thanks to taxpayer’s money into rehabilitation programs, probably after years of her collecting welfare and then a paid job search or training too. If only the government paid off eveyone’s credit cards too!

Brooke , u rock! Laura u should learn some more from Brooke. Don’t take it the wrong way, especially not SOOOOOOO wrong way. and just in case you are going to tell me to get a better job or education, I am highly educated and a multimillionaire, and some of my money came from accelerating removal of crackhead tenants from the buildings of honest working people..
brooke said…….
Well I’ve been a junkie and a crack head for 15 years now but i’ve never spent anytime on main and hastings because I couldnt and cant handle being around selfish and conning people. It really is true when they say how do u know if a drug addict is lieing as soon as they open their mouth. Because they will say and do anything to get high and yes its a disease but it’s a disease thats brought along yourself. It’s not like I can say well I didnt know Id become addicted well thats not true. Even I know that and won’t even pretend to deney it.

u know what addiction is like cancer u are sick and dyeing and can die any time and people like your selfs think u know everything when u dont at all i was liveing down on main and hastings seven years ago and let me tell u i took my life back and iam doing just fine when i was sick i have done things iam not proud of but guess what that was the adicy not me so stop blameing what people do when they are literally sick its just like cancer its progresses so does everything else i was in my final stages of cancer put it that way and god has forgiven me and so i have forgiven myself also iam going to school to be a counceller let me tell u addiction is pain misery and hell and a slow sucicide so maybe u people should know what the hell u are talking about before u make judements u only know my name not my story and i have come a long way and i will not allow people to label and make generlizions about the dyeing and sick would u go to a section of a hospital where people are dyeing from cancer and judge what they are doing threw the stages no u wouldnt SO STOP BEING SO IGNORANT PEOPLE ARE BLINDED BYE THERE OWN IGNORANCES THATS THE PROBLEM AND MY PAST IS MY PAST I DONT LIVE THERE ANY MORE

I’m tired listening to people talk about crackheads and junkies like they are normal people and anyone that thinks otherwise is ignorant… whoever thinks that is the one being ignorant. They sap the system of money, deprive people of their own personal belongings for their next hit. They have no function but to be a public nuisance, begging, stealing, harassing, getting high in Alleys and street corners.
You will ask “what the f**k d I know?”.
Well I do.
I work in a business that has a crackhead as an employee, guess what? he never/hardly ever shows up. When he does, all I get is abuse and stuff thrown at me and constant yelling. I won’t quit because I won’t let some burden of society be the cause of it. That would be letting the crackheads win, like what a lot of you seem to think is a good idea.

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t generalize. They aren’t all crackheads… There are a lot of Meth heads too, they are just as bad.

Tired of getting stuff stolen on me by these people, tired of constantly hearing and seeing them on the street. Most of them are mindless from years drug abuse. Tired of hearing people sticking up for them… what the f**k did they ever do for you I ask?

All they are here in Vancouver is a tiring embarrassment, a burden, and an ugly birthmark on an otherwise pretty city.

Help for them shouldn’t come in the form of an injection site or needle exchange… that’s only feeding the problem. They should be all forced to work, regardless of how “gone” they are. I don’t care. If they want to be treated like people they should go get a f**cking job and contribute like the rest of us.

I hope these folks don’t get into “DESOMORPHINE” aka KROKODILE…A cheap heroin/opiate substitue because then they are guarenteed to die within 2-3 yrs of flesh eating side effects.

That would be bad…wouldnt want the DTES folks using “DESOMORPHINE” because its way cheaper and easily made at home. That’s D.E.S.O.M.O.R.P.H.I.N.E. again very cheap and easy to make with over the counter products. It’s just like heroin only cheaper!

Also known as krokodile…..youtube it! WE REALLY DON’T want that here! It is a death sentence…Again, we dont want them using it-because they will die….and that would be sad.

Hey
never been there but maybe someone can help me
I’m looking for a natalie may or graham depending what mood shes in….she left with her boyfriend then from ottawa and last time she called was 2 years ago,shes my daughter and trying to find her, if you know her tell her she’s a grand mother again…she can also reach me at oh-gee.towing @hotmail.com or 613 407 7011
Thanks a bunch
Pappy

I was raised down on Hastings it can get pretty bad especially if ur a regular around there I could never bring friends over there parents wouldn’t let them go but you just get used to it so I wal down there with valuables all the time but it’s scary for tourists I love watching them down town you can pick tourists out of the crowd so easily I live in newton now way worse

To the complete moron who wrote this… Your spitting a bunch of bull shit. I can walk down hastings wearing a rolex and not be bothered. get out of your cave and come to the light you idiot. Get out and try walking around this part of town and your moron self will see that you have no clue what your talking about. one more thing, your a complete douchebag.

i spent 6 years in the downtown eastside on a daily bases, standing in food lines walking dowm backlanes sitting on any and every corner, cashing in cans when needed and participating in every aspect of the community, including medical assistance access to clothes, shelter from the cold and
wet days etc etc Im 5 foot f### all, clean cut and always dressed in modern wear, no torn clothes.
I spent many days sitting with some of ,what are looked at as, the least desirable people.
Guess what, i was never assaulted, never robbed, i am free of any illnesses that are associated
with the DTES and i met some really interesting people and a few that im proud to call friends to
this day. I left Vancouver in 2008 but returned this year to find some friends, still doing well, i
might add and DTES was the most real time of my life.
We all live in a dream or chase one, that scares me not DTES…Peace to the ignorant.

this writing showed up on a google search. Your insight equates that of any morbid gawker who has strolled down those blocks, myself included. I think that a lot of us who live here can stand gulty of feeling like children at a zoo because a lot of these homeless and drug addictes people’s lives are so alien to our own on the surface. It wasn’t till reading Dr Gabor Mate’s “in the realm of hungry ghosts”, doing some deep soul searching and meeting someone that is struggling with the aftermath of having the misfortune of becoming addicted to a destructive substance like what is sold on hastings and main that I was humbled by the magnitude of the problm and how we are all contributors to it and actors within the very system that produces the human tragedy unfolding in the belly of a superficially gilded society rotten to the core.

Wow… I’ve read a lot of sad, scared hate pieces over the years, but this one may be the most pathetic. Yes, there are a lot of sick and poor people around Main and Hastings. They aren’t scary, though, and they’re not rats. They’re just sad people who, for reasons beyond your comprehension, ended up in a bad place. They’re human beings, and they deserve at least a modicum of basic human respect (i.e. not having their pictures taken so you can go laugh at their misfortune from the safety of your white suburban dream). How would you like it if they wandered around your neighborhood taking pictures of you?